FINRA released its annual Regulatory and Examination Priorities Letter (so-called "Errico Letter") on January 5. FINRA's top five priorities:
- Firm Culture. FINRA's been pushing "culture of compliance" for years, but in 2016 will take it to the next level: "FINRA will formalize our assessment of firm culture while continuing our focus on conflicts of interest and ethics." In looking at a firm's culture, FINRA will focus on "Five Factors" to assess whether:
- policy or control breaches are tolerated;
- control functions are valued within the organization;
- managers are ...